Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

April 16, 2026

Jewish Writers Think the Jewish Book Council Is Too Jewish

Affirmative action for Israel-haters.

In a recent open letter, a group of 42 anti-Israel Jewish writers criticized the Jewish Book Council (JBC)—the major American organization of its kind—for its “apparent bias toward centering Israeli and Zionist voices” through which it is “contributing to the dehumanization of Palestinians and advancing a system of cultural apartheid.” Seth Mandel notes that many of the signatories have written books that received accolades from the JBC; in other words, this amounts to “a bunch of JBC award winners complained they don’t win enough JBC awards.” So what is the problem?

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